Official Shincha 2013 Ordering topic

Placing in a zip seal foil lined bag > in a zip seal foil lined bag > in a zip seal foil lined bag should prevent problems. Heat sealers would be great ... as would having deox packets. But so far I have resisted those temptations.

Poohblah wrote:I have used those bags for backpacking before. Keep in mind that, while they don't allow odor to escape, they may give off an odor of their own which will not play well with the tea.

Oh crap this is disappointing to hear. Do your bags smell like plastic after several weeks? Or just at the beginning? Do you think they are cheaply made? I did this online so haven't touch the product yet. Maybe I should just find a thick Mylar ziplock bag....

Poohblah wrote:I have used those bags for backpacking before. Keep in mind that, while they don't allow odor to escape, they may give off an odor of their own which will not play well with the tea.

Oh crap this is disappointing to hear. Do your bags smell like plastic after several weeks? Or just at the beginning? Do you think they are cheaply made? I did this online so haven't touch the product yet. Maybe I should just find a thick Mylar ziplock bag....

I don't have any with me right now to check. They are definitely not cheaply made though. It's a pretty high quality product. It's just meant for keeping things water-tight, air-tight, and away from bears and other critters, not necessarily for storing tea in fridges. I would still give it a shot though. I'm just generally wary of all things plastic as far as tea is concerned. I've not had good experiences...

Hey all, longtime lurker, extremely infrequent poster. Is this also the 2013 Shincha review topic (in addition to ordering), or should we create one?

On that note, I've so far only gotten the Sae Midori shincha from O-Cha (along with a new fukamushi pot because, alas, I always manage to break the tops!).

Last year it was deep green, with a surprisingly clean, sort of refined flavor for such a deep steam, along with grassy and creamy notes. This year, it's still a powerful green brew, but for me so far a much stronger hit of marine flavor, along with some vegetal notes. I'm not really a big fan of those seaweedy sorts of flavors, so for me I much preferred it last year. For those who like that type of flavor I'd certainly recommend it, though. I'm curious if others feel similarly about the Sae this year.